


Cullen Takes a Bath

by mistysinkat



Series: Da Capo: The Full Score [6]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 14:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6379165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistysinkat/pseuds/mistysinkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Cullen is home alone and bored out of his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cullen Takes a Bath

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a quick little thing I wrote back when we were doing the proposal arc. It's set prior to that one when they're living together.
> 
> Despite the things that *could* happen in a bath, this is safe for work. >.>;

Dorian was at work. He wasn't supposed to be home for hours, which left Cullen alone to entertain himself until at least 5:30 that evening. He'd practiced a bit that morning, done what little laundry they had, and cleaned what there was to clean. By that point, it was only 11. Six more hours. He organized his bookshelf and cleaned all the random odds and ends out of his drawer in the nightstand. Expectantly, he checked the time again - 11:45.

“Maker's breath,” he muttered to himself as he restlessly moved from room to room, looking for something to occupy his time. The shopping was done, and he didn't feel like going anywhere, anyway. He didn't want to read, and there was nothing on TV. Utter and abject boredom. Cullen didn't do well with boredom. He didn't like being idle. Well, he did, but usually only when Dorian was there with him. _Alone_ and idle was a recipe for disaster, he knew, so he tooled about, looking at the clock every 30 seconds and growling each time.

Finally at a little after three, he decided a shower would give him something to do for at least a little while. As he undressed in the bathroom, his eyes landed on Dorian's bath… things. The man could lounge for hours in the tub and come out smelling of exotic spices and citrus and just wonderfulness. Cullen appreciated the effect of that bathing more than once - smooth, warm skin that was a feast for the senses - but he'd never understood the soaking _for hours._ It seemed incredibly dull, just lying there in a tub of water and doing… _nothing._ Alone with his own thoughts. Cullen shuddered. It'd been a bit over a year and a half since he'd completed his treatment - and he was definitely doing better - but he still had problems sometimes when his mind wasn't engaged.

Still… maybe there was something to this he was missing.

Dorian always had a little ritual for his bath. It included making hot tea with lemon and finding just the right book to completely ignore as it sat untouched on the floor. Sometimes, the man even lit candles and turned the lights out. Maybe all that was somehow soothing? So, towel wrapped around his waist, Cullen set about replicating Dorian's pre-bath activities. Tea was made, a book was selected - not that he'd read it, but still - and, Maker help him, he even lit some candles. That done, he took the time to read the back of one of Dorian's favorite bath… oils?

“Ok, one capful under running water,” he said to himself as he adjusted the water temperature and stoppered the big soaking tub once the water was hot enough. One capful didn't seem like much, so he added another… and then poured some more in for good measure. The water frothed and foamed as he watched, and soon, the bathroom was steamy and smelled of Dorian. All told, it could be worse. He'd likely be bored, but at least he'd be bored and reminded of the man he loved. It wasn't all bad.

After the candles were lit and the lights turned out, Cullen eased into the tub. The water felt… slicker than it should, though that hardly made sense to him. He sat there, sipping tea, and wondered when whatever magic that was supposed to happen would happen.

_Maybe… I should lie down a bit?_

He sat back, resting against the inclined wall of the tub and just watched the running water, moving his hands slowly through the foam it created. With one pale foot, he turned the water off and chuckled at the memory of once not being able to work this particular faucet. That had been another time, during the strange, frantic period _before_. Before his treatment. Before they had any idea what they were doing. Before they knew how to be together and be happy. He wouldn't have changed any of it, but Maker, it had been _so hard._

As he relaxed into that steaming, scented water, he cast his mind back to the past. The first time he'd ever seen Dorian, he remembered thinking someone like that, with his suit and perfect hair and incredibly annoyed expression, wouldn't give someone like him the time of day. But then he'd shown up almost every single day and stood nearby, tossing change into Cullen's guitar case as he played. And then one day they'd _spoken_.

Paths lead into paths from there. Sometimes, they'd taken a step to the side and sometimes they'd taken leaps backwards, but they’d never stopped moving together. They'd made it, somehow never giving up, even when maybe they should have. Cullen smiled, soft and slow, as he thought about that. They were nothing if not stubborn… both of them in their own ways.

That winding path full of hazards and hurt had eventually led them to something great. Amazing, really. This was Cullen's home now. Dorian was his partner, in every sense of the word, and it was steady. Stable. Healthy. Cullen found that he somehow managed to love the man a little more each time he smiled. Or laughed. Or sighed in his sleep. Or just… woke up in the morning. It shouldn't have been possible, but there it was.

And suddenly, _partner_ didn't seem like the right word for what Dorian was to him. It had the right idea of what they were - friends, lovers, support, a voice to call the other out when needed, all that - but it lacked something. Cullen moved his arms slowly through the warm water around him as he mused on that idea. What was the term missing that made it so suddenly and completely inadequate?

_I love him. And he loves me. We love each other. Completely._

But that was obvious. He was stating facts at this point, getting nowhere near the answer to his question.

_Complete love… or, rather, considering where we've been… unconditional? I just know I don't want to ever be without him. And I think - no I'm sure - he feels the same. The rest of our lives…_

And there it was. The thing that was missing. The idea or permanence, of _forever._ That's what Cullen wanted. To grow old with Dorian beside him. To sail fair skies and and weather storms together.

Cullen Rutherford wanted to marry Dorian Pavus.

Amber eyes went wide and scarred lips curled and parted into a smile as Cullen took a breath to steady his heart. Of course. Of course he did. As soon as he knew… he _knew._ That's all there was to it. Simple, if a bit frightening… but truth.

He felt his body relax into that silky water. All the restlessness from earlier left him, and he was comfortable now in his own mind. It was warm and secure - safe - and he let his thoughts drift _forward_ in a way he hadn't before. Blurry images of a future together floated and came together like the foamy bubbles that surrounded him. He was at peace and time stopped ticking by as he closed his eyes.

He must have dozed... had to have, because the next thing he knew, the water was cold and someone was chuckling above him.

“Experimenting with my… what did you call it? ‘Frivolous bath stuff,’ are we?”

Dorian.

“Guilty as charged,” Cullen said with a grin, eyes still closed.

“And?” Dorian asked with clear curiosity in his tone.

“... I might like this,” Cullen answered, opening his eyes to look up at Dorian. “It helps me think. I make good decisions in here.”

“And what have you decided, hm?” Dorian moved to lean against the sink, a considering expression Cullen knew well painted on his face.

“Only that I might do this more often,” Cullen laughed. _And that I want to be your husband._

“Well, that's certainly something,” Dorian answered with a small chuckle. “But you're going pruny. Let's get you out of this tub and dried off and into some clothes.” He paused and let that wicked look that Cullen loved so much spread over his face. “... or not.”

Cullen stood and reached behind Dorian for the towel he’d placed there earlier. Bracing against the countertop as he was, Cullen found himself just a breath away from the man he now knew that he wanted to marry. He took the initiative and pressed a kiss to Dorian's lips, lightly nipping at his bottom lip before he pulled away enough to speak, “I'm voting… not.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dorian told Cullen when he decided he wanted to marry him, but Cullen never returned the favor in the story line. So there you have it - when Cullen realized for the first time that he wanted to be Dorian's husband.


End file.
